The
following is the first part of a 3 part article spanning 4 issues of
The Accurate Rifle.
Part I : January 2000 Volume 3 Number 12
Part II: February 2001 Volume 4 Number 1
Part III Section 1: April 2001 Volume 4 Number 3
Part III Section 2: May 2001 Volume 4 Number 4

Click
on any photograph to view an enlarged version. Use your back button
to return to the article.

(Editor:
We consider our writer here, by reason of extensive personal involvement
over the years with Force Recon, to be uniquely qualified to write the
three part series that we assigned to him. Part II will deal with the
Special Operations Training Group (SOTG), and Part III will be "the
good stuff", namely all weapons and equipment. While The Accurate
Rifle does not intend to really cover the military scene, nonetheless
there is always one way to get an exception to the general rules around
here...make it darn interesting! The American Rifleman, in it's
golden era, had frequent articles about US Military small arms, and
just about everyone found them to be interesting reading at the time.
In the author's cover note to me, accompanying this article, he casually
commented " The FAST Platoonthat I trained in Bahrain last month
was deployed to Yemen today".Trust us; we've got just the writer
for the assignment here).

Part I :History,
Mission and Organization

The
United States Marine Corps is a relatively small and parochial organization.
Numbering only 172,000, it is the smallest of the Nation's armed forces.
It also epitomizes the warrior ethic, much to the consternation of the
socialists present in our society today.

The Marine Corps is, and
has been throughout its existence, an expeditionary force. Consequently
it is task organized to land its forward deployed units worldwide. Because
we are a naval force, the primary method of force projection is amphibious,
and the forcible entry option into a non-permissive environment is powerful
and decisive.

Within
the Marine Corps exists a small group of highly trained and superbly
competent Marines; those assigned to the Force Reconnaissance community.
Relatively unknown outside of the Department of Defense (DOD), they
neither seek nor suffer the publicity of others in this business.

I'll attempt to provide a
small look into the world of Force Reconnaissance. The amount of information
will require three separate articles. This first installment will be
a brief overview of the history and organization of Force Reconnaissance
and how it fits into the Marine Corps mission. The second will be concerned
with selection and training, and finally the third will cover weapons
and equipment used by these silent warriors. There is a fair amount
of jargon and acronyms involved, which I have hopefully softened and
explained without gentrifying the story.

History

Currently, the only stand
alone Force Reconnaissance Company in the Marine Corps is 1st Force.
The 2nd Recon Bn. (East Coast) and 3rd Recon Bn. (Okinawa) have a Force
capability imbedded in their respective Reconnaissance Battalions. This
may change (again) in the near future, but as of this time only 1st
Force is capable of independent operations. Because of the different
command relations that exist, this article is concerned primarily with
1st Force.

The Marine Forces Reserve
have 3rd Force Recon in Mobile, AL, and 4th Force Recon in Honolulu,
with a detachment in Reno, NV.

It's necessary to clarify
the difference between Force and Division Reconnaissance.

The Reconnaissance Battalion
supports the Division, and it provides tactical reconnaissance in the
Distant Battle.

Force Reconnaissance had
it genesis in Camp Pendelton in 1954 when a test unit was formed to
evaluate methods of insertion for reconnaissance teams. These two platoons,
(a Parachute Reconnaissance Platoon and a Pathfinder Platoon) were eventually
combined with an existing Amphibious Reconnaissance Company to form
1st Force Reconnaissance Company in 1957.

In
1958, one half of the Company was transferred to the east coast to form
the fledgling 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company. 1st Force was then a
part of Force Troops, Fleet Marine Force Pacific (FMFPac) and supported
both the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions. 2nd Force was assigned to Force
Troops, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic (FMFLant), and supported the 2nd
Marine Division.

The early years were spent
developing the doctrine and skills that bore fruit in the crucible of
South East Asia.1 1st Force and 3rd Force2
went into the former Republic of Viet Nam in 1965, supporting 3rd Marine
Amphibious Force in I Corps. During its five years in country, 1st Force
ran over 2,200 reconnaissance patrols.

Forty-four Marines and Sailors
of 1st Force were killed or remain Missing in Action during that conflict.

The Company was deactivated
in 1974, as part of the post war draw down. The 1st Platoon was transferred
to 1st Reconnaissance Bn. at that time, in order to retain a deep reconnaissance
capability for 1st Marine Division.

The mixing of Force with
Division Recon has never been entirely satisfactory, and the Company
again stood up in 1986. 1st Force operated in Southwest Asia during
desert Shield/ Storm, and has since deployed to multiple hot spots including
East Timor last year.

Mission

The
Company has two Mission Profiles- Deep Reconnaissance and Direct Action.

On
the conventional, or "Green" side, the mission is to conduct Amphibious
Reconnaissance, Deep Ground Reconnaissance, Battlespace Shaping, and
surveillance to observe, identify and report enemy activity.

When task organized with
other forces, equipment or personnel, they can assist in special engineer,
Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC), Radio, mobile or other reconnaissance
operations.

Additionally, they can implant
or recover sensors and beacons, conduct Initial Terminal Guidance for
helicopters, landing craft and parachutists. As directed, they can designate
and engage selected targets with Force fires, including terminal guidance
of Precision Guided Munitions (PGM).

They
can conduct post strike reconnaissance to determine and report damage
to a specific target or area, or perform other operations as directed
by higher command.

An
example of this type of mission is the Personal Security Detail (PSD).
Members of the Company are regularly tasked with providing protection
to high-ranking military or civilian members in hostile areas. Generally
a very high profile detail, the Marines of Force have the proper attitude
and mindset to keep themselves and a principal alive in the bad neighborhoods
of the third world.

Note that the Company is
capable of conducting Direct Action missions inside the Deep Battle
area when task organized with other elements-specifically a Reconnaissance
and Surveillance (R&S) element, Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)
technicians, Radio or Electronic warfare specialists and such.

The
Company is equally capable of conducting reconnaissance or direct action
missions on very short notice.

One task recently removed
from Force was In- Extremis Hostage Rescue. (IHR). While USSOCOM Tier
1 assets (Combat Applications Group {CAG} and DevGrp) have primary cognizance
of hostage recovery, it was recognized early on that when the bad guys
were executing hostages right now, a capable forward-deployed unit could
be useful.

Recently it was felt by some
that the IHR mission requires too much training time to be proficient,
and that time spent in training for DA missions would degrade the Deep
Reconnaissance capability. To that end the Marine Corps no longer advertises
the IHR mission. However, Maritime Interdiction Operations, GOPLAT,
prisoner recovery etc. all require a high degree of proficiency in surgical
shooting and CQB skills. The Marine Corps has wisely not lowered the
shooting standards and while IHR may not now exist as a mission, the
capability is still resident in the Company.

To
accomplish the mission profiles, Force utilizes special insert/ extraction
techniques. These include:

Air - Helo; fast
rope, rappel, Special Patrol Insertion/ Extraction Rig (SPIE Rig); Parachute,
including Low Level Static Line (LLSL), High Altitude High Opening (HAHO)
up to 25,000', and High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) up to 35,000'.

Organization

To
understand how Force Reconnaissance functions, we need to understand
how it fits into current Marine Corps doctrine.

The Marine Corps is broken
down into three Marine Expeditionary Forces (MEF), each consisting of
a Marine Division, a Marine Air Wing, and a Force Service Support Group.

Various non-operational
units exist to support the MEF and subordinate units. As with the subordinate
MEU, a single commander is responsible for ground, aviation and support
elements.

Forward
deployed are the Marine Expeditionary Units (Special Operations Capable)
{MEU (SOC)}. The MEU (SOC) is the smallest of the Corps Air/ Ground
Task Forces, consisting of approximately 2100 Marines and sailors.

The reason why it is "Special
Operations Capable" and not "Special Operations" is that neither the
Marine Corps nor any of its units belong to U.S. Special Operations
Command. While Joint (or Purple) Operations are the rage in the halls
of the Pentagon, the Marine Corps has always believed (and with great
justification) that other services will deny the Marine Corps the use
of its own specially trained assets during a crisis.

This has occurred on several
occasions during the Viet Nam War, and more recently in the Gulf Conflict.

As a prime example, Marine
Corps aviation exists solely to support the guys who actually do the
fighting (the Grunts). Joint Air "managers" have long sought to remove
these very valuable assets in order to make more "efficient" use of
tactical air. The end result is that when a Marine infantryman needs
that specially trained Marine pilot to deliver ordnance at danger close,
he might be making toothpicks many miles away. The alternative is no
air, or pilots who have not been properly trained in Close Air Support
(CAS). The feeling is that if Force was assigned to USSOCOM, they might
also remove the Force Reconnaissance assets from supporting a MEF or
MEU.

The
MEU (SOC) is comprised of a Ground Combat Element (GCE), an Aviation
Combat Element (ACE), a MEU Combat Service Support Group, and a Command
Element (CE).

The Aviation Combat Element
(ACE) is a Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron (HMM) augmented into a
composite squadron. It will usually consist of 12 CH-46's, 4 CH-53's,
3 UH-1N's, and 4 AH-1W Cobras. It may also have 6 AV-8B Harrier fixed
wing aircraft attached.

The ACE also has an Air Control
detachment, 6 Avenger Air Defense HMMV, and a Light Air Defense (LAD)
Detachment assigned.

The
MEU Service Support Group (MSSG) contains all of the specialists and
equipment necessary to keep the GCE and the ACE functioning. This includes
motor transport, mechanical, engineering, medical, dental, postal and
other technical experts.

The Command Element provides
the Command and Control for the three components of the MEU. In addition
to the MEU Commander and his staff, a Radio Recon Bn. Detachment, an
Intelligence Detachment, and a Force Recon platoon are included.

The MEU (SOC) is forward
deployed on a three ship Amphibious Ready Group. (Usually an LHD or
LHA, and an LPD and LSD). Generally speaking, and depending on sequencing,
two or sometimes three MEU (SOC)'s are forward deployed around the world
at any given time.

The MEU (SOC) is self sustaining
and capable of executing an amphibious operation at night or under adverse
weather conditions, by surface (in LCAC's and AAV's) or by air (in the
embarked helicopter squadron) within six hours of receiving the execute
order.

Though
1st Force is a Company, it is administered along the lines of a battalion.

There are approximately 200
Marines and Sailors in the Company. Leading the Company is the Company
Headquarters consisting of the Commanding Officer (CO), a LtCol, the
Executive Officer (XO), a Major, and a Sergeant Major.

Supporting the operational
platoons is the S1 (Administrative) Shop; the S2 (Intelligence) Section;
the S3 (Operations); and the S4 (Logistics and Supply); and the S6 (Communications)
Shop.

Under the cognizance of the
S3 is the indispensable Training Cell and the Paraloft. The S4 Shop
has control of the Dive and Amphibious Lockers, the Motor Transport
Section, and the Armory.

The Company has medical and
dive personnel assigned from the Navy. While Corpsmen have always been
held in high regard by Marines (and for obvious reasons), those Corpsmen
assigned to Force Recon are definitely a breed apart. These Special
Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman go through all of the training that
the Marines in Force go through, plus their own advanced Combat Trauma
Training. When assigned to the platoons, they are shooters first and
foremost, and indistinguishable from their green brothers.

Though the Table of Organization
is for six operational platoons, only five are actually funded.

The Operational platoons
are staffed with a platoon headquarters consisting of a Platoon Commander
(usually a Captain), a platoon sergeant (usually a Staff Sergeant or
Gunnery Sergeant), Platoon Radio Operator (normally a Staff Sergeant
or Gunnery Sergeant), a Navy Special Amphibious Reconnaissance Corpsman,
and a platoon Equipment NCO (Rigger/ Armorer).

There are three, six man
teams in the platoon. Each Team consists of a Team Leader (SSgt), an
Assistant Team Leader (SSgt/ Sgt), a Radio Operator, and three Reconnaissance
Scouts.

The six-man team concept
reflects real world experience. The Company formerly fielded 4 man teams
but there were a number of issues that impacted negatively on the Marines.
Consider that they must jump, dive, or walk in with all the gear necessary
to complete the mission. The new surveillance and communications gear
is lighter, stronger and more efficient than what it replaces, but there
is more of it. Less then six cannot carry the equipment necessary for
Deep Reconnaissance missions. Equally important is what the team does
with a friendly casualty. Unless a 4-man team was willing to cache all
of its equipment, they would not be able to carry a casualty out.

In
Deep Reconnaissance, survival is based on stealth, and stealth is a
by-product of alertness. A 4-man team does not have the numbers to provide
an adequate rest cycle while maintaining proper security.

Though a Deep Reconnaissance
mission requires that the team not be compromised, the reality of life
is that they may. When that happens, the rules change. Because they
are in the deep battle area, they cannot count on artillery support,
and CAS and the extract birds may be a long time coming. They must be
able to shoot, move and communicate, but unlike a Grunt, they are operating
in a friendly vacuum. The 4 man team simply does not have enough guns
to work as two elements.

The 6 man team also provides
the numbers necessary to perform a Direct Action mission. Remember that
these missions will take place in a non-permissive (or at best, a semi-permissive)
environment. The smaller teams are just an invitation for failed missions
and higher casualties.

On
the other side of the coin, increasing the team drastically increases
the chance of detection. More than 6 and the patrol becomes too unwieldy
for clandestine operations.

6 man teams are a compromise,
and it is the best available solution.

For Direct Action missions,
the platoon is configured into a single unit, and task organized with
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians, a Reconnaissance and
Surveillance (R&S) section (drawn from the BLT Scout/ Sniper Platoon),
and a Security Element (also drawn from the BLT) as well as other mission
related personnel.

You
may note that the rank structure is significantly more senior then in
conventional forces. This accurately reflects the length of time one spends
in training before he can get into a platoon, and is commensurate with
the maturity and responsibility of these Marines. Considering the amount
of sophisticated surveillance and communication gear available to the
platoon, the training required to operate and maintain it, and what it
is they actually do, any issues about rank become amazingly inconsequential.

The
Force Reconnaissance Company is the personal eyes and ears of the MEF
Commander - a three star Corps level equivalent. They provide him with
real time information in the Deep Battle area not available by other
means.

The Marines of Force Recon
do not consider thewmselves to be "elite" or "special".
Their attitude is that thaey have been fortunate to be selected to a
unit that provides unique challenges and opportunities, and makes full
use of their talents. They are tough, rugged men, whose job is to support
the guy who does the real fighting - the Marine Infantryman.